1. Technical Field
This invention relates to greeting cards and, more particularly, to an electronic greeting card for recording and playing back a personalized message.
2. Prior Art
Techniques for incorporating sound messages into greeting cards are known in the prior art, and include a switch that may be depressed to activate playback of a sound message. While such techniques certainly enhance the personalization of a greeting card or postcard, they are accompanied by a number of drawbacks. First, despite ongoing progress in the miniaturization of electronic components, such playback devices are relatively large and bulky relative to the sheet material that forms the card, and hence interfere with the aesthetics of the card by providing either an unsightly bulge or unwanted thickness along at least a portion of the card. To minimize the aesthetic intrusiveness of such modules, they are manufactured in as compact and lightweight a form as possible. However, the resulting small and lightweight structures of such modules necessarily limit the quality of the sound they produce, and render them fragile and susceptible to breakage when conveyed through the various machinery of the postal service. Thirdly, the power cells used in such modules are likewise necessarily small and of limited power capacity, which in turn limits the module to a relatively short lifetime of operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,698 to Johnson discloses a personalized greeting card that includes an independent, detachable, electronic memory device that stores electronic signals, a mechanism for retrieving the electronic signals from the memory device, a voice synthesizer which obtains these electronic signals and produces audible sounds representative of the personalized message, and a switch that controls the retrieving device and the voice synthesizer. Prior to incorporating the memory device in the card, an EPROM translation machine converts the personalized message obtained from the sender of the card into appropriate electronic signals and stores those representative electronic signals in the memory device. The memory device is then detached from the EPROM and mounted in the circuitry disposed in the greeting card. Unfortunately, this prior art example creates a bulky appearance and interferes with the aesthetics of the card.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,606 to Sasaki discloses a message card that includes a button type dry battery, a visual image display, a speaker, a control circuit for recording, storing and reproducing both of visual images and audio messages data, a flexible circuit substrate for mounting the control circuit, connecting substrate formed integrally to the circuit substrate for connecting electrically the control circuit with the visual image display and with the speaker, writing terminals for writing desired visual images and audio messages data on the control circuit and being connected electrically to the control circuit on the substrate, and a switch for activating the reproduction of the visual images and the audio messages data. Unfortunately, this prior art example does not prevent the card recipient from erasing the original audio recorded message.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,921 to Soscia discloses a system and method for optically imprinting and reading sound data onto a piece of printed sheet material such as a greeting card. The system includes an encoding device for converting a sound message into a two-dimensional encodement, a printer for invisibly imprinting the encodement onto the greeting card, and a reader for optically reading the encodement and converting it into a sound corresponding to the message. The encoding device preferably converts the sound message into a compressed digitized form prior to its ultimate conversion into a two-dimensional encodement. The reader preferably includes a lens for focusing an image of the encodement onto the image sensor array. The sensor array responds to the image by generating a digital signal representative of the compressed sound that the reader decompresses and renders into an analog sound signal which is representative of the original sound image. Both the system and method are particularly useful in providing an individualized sound message on customized greeting cards. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed for enabling a user to express a thoughtful greeting with his/her own voice.
Accordingly, the present invention is disclosed in order to overcome the above noted shortcomings. The electronic greeting card is convenient and easy to use, lightweight yet durable in design, and designed for recording and playing back a personalized message. The device is simple to use, inexpensive, and designed for many years of repeated use.